This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on April 10, 2017 - April 16, 2017

BETWEEN March 29 and April 4, a total of 842.32 million shares worth RM1.72 billion were traded off market in blocks of at least 500,000 shares.

Among the notable transactions was that at GHL Systems , which saw 290.24 million shares or a 44.4% stake change hands. Actis Stark (Mauritius) Ltd acquired the shares from private equity firm Creador and Simon Loh at RM1 apiece.

Loh, the executive vice-chairman of GHL, is left with a 19.1% stake in the company after the sale.

Actis Stark has offered to buy the remaining shares it does not own in GHL, and will delist the company if it gets more than 75% stake.

GHL’s share price closed at RM1.60 last Wednesday.

Over at APFT , 61.5 million warrants were transacted in seven off-market deals during the period under review. The warrants changed hands at half a sen apiece, or RM308,000 in total. Interestingly, APFT’s warrants closed at two sen last Wednesday.

It is worth noting that the warrants have a strike price of 40 sen, many times higher than the price of APFT’s shares, which closed at 4.5 sen the same day.

Bio Osmo  saw 50 million shares or a 6.92% stake worth RM3.5 million change hands off market on April 4.

The shares were disposed of by Datuk Chong Thin Choy and acquired by Datuk Seri Farouk Abdullah, giving the latter a 9.13% stake in the company. Chong ceased to be a substantial shareholder.

It is interesting to note that Bio Osmo is in the process of undertaking a 10% private placement of up to 72.3 million new shares to a yet-to-be-identified third party.

Bio Osmo’s share price closed at 8.5 sen last week, slightly below a recent spike to 10 sen apiece last month. The group’s share price typically hovers around 4.5 sen.

Gabungan AQRS  saw 35 million shares or an 8.9% stake traded at RM1.17 apiece, or RM40.95 million in total, in 10 off-market transactions on March 29.

It appears that the shares were sold by Lim Ann Kok, based on Bursa Malaysia filings, but it is not clear who the buyer is. Interestingly, the shares were disposed of substantially below the market value. Gabungan AQRS’ share price closed at RM1.32 last Wednesday.

SCH Group  saw 35 million shares or an 8.49% stake change hands off market at 23 sen apiece, or RM8.05 million in total, during the period under review. The largest block of 25 million shares was transacted on March 30.

This block of shares was acquired by Tan Sri Koh Kin Lip via Thinjing Holdings Sdn . Koh now has a 16.54% stake in the company.

Interestingly, the 35 million shares were sold by Lau Mong Ling, a director of the company. Another director, Khoo Chee Siang, acquired four million shares.

On top of that, Lau also sold 17.5 million warrants at 14 sen apiece on March 30. Lau went on to sell another four million warrants at 16 sen apiece on April 4 and a further 7.9 million at 16.2 sen apiece the next day.

Sinotop Holdings  saw 17.68 million shares or a 4.48% stake change hands in two direct deals on April 4.

The shares were traded at 70 sen apiece, or RM12.4 million in total.

Sinotop has undertaken a series of corporate exercises — capital reduction, share consolidation and diversification. The exercises saw the company’s 1.97 billion share base consolidated into 395 million shares on March 30. Hence, Sinotop’s shares were traded as high as 90 sen apiece after that.

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